Dow Jones Indexes, UBS Add Eight Commodity Indexes

Dow Jones Indexes and UBS Investment Bank announced they are adding eight commodity subindexes to the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index family.

The subindexes measure an opportunity set excluding commodities such as agriculture, livestock or grains. Also launching as subindexes of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes family are indexes that exclude the other major commodity sectors within the broad index: industrial metals, precious metals, soft commodities, petroleum products and agriculture/livestock.  

“These new subindexes measure commodity markets from the perspective of investors that want zero exposure to certain sectors,” said Michael A. Petronella, President, Dow Jones Indexes.  

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

In addition to the eight new subindexes, the DJ-UBSCI series consists of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index comprising 19 commodities; the eight previously existing subindexes; and 28 single commodity subindexes, including: aluminum, Brent crude, cocoa, coffee, copper, corn, cotton, crude oil, feeder cattle, gas oil, gold, heating oil, lead, lean hogs, live cattle, natural gas, nickel, orange juice, platinum, silver, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, sugar, tin, unleaded gasoline, wheat and zinc.  

More information is at http://www.djindexes.com.

AXA Equitable Creates Apps for BlackBerry Users

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company has developed applications for use on BlackBerry smartphones, which cover retirement income and life insurance topics.

Known as “Super Apps,” the Retirement Income and Life Insurance calculator applications can help individuals in both areas by estimating income from retirement savings, as well as calculating an appropriate amount of life insurance coverage. The two applications for BlackBerry smartphones can also synchronize with BlackBerry address book contacts, enabling users to directly call or e-mail their financial professionals from within the application.  

According to AXA, the applications also allow BlackBerry smartphone users to: 

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

  • Automatically receive reminders on important financial goals or meetings with their AXA Advisors financial professionals through integration with the BlackBerry Calendar application 
  • Share the applications with friends and family through social channels like Facebook  

The new applications join an existing set of applications AXA Equitable has launched as part of its digital strategy. Those offerings, launched in 2009 for the iPhone, provide mobile users with access to interactive calculators addressing college savings, retirement shortfall, life expectancy, and life insurance. 

«